History
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT MILESTONES
FIRST STAGE (2001-2011)
In the context of robust development of information and communication technology (ICT) in the world, the Politburo has determined in Directive No. 58/CT-TW dated on October 17, 2000 “Information technology is widely applied in in all fields, has become one of the most important factors of socio-economic development and ensuring of national security and defense”. The Vietnamese Communist Party and the State have had many policies to develop information technology (IT) and telecommunications, in which training IT human resources is very important and urgent.
Approved by the Government, Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) issued Decision No. 6946/QĐ-BGDĐT-TCCB dated on December 14, 2001 on the establishment of Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) under Thai Nguyen University (TNU). The campus in Quyet Thang Commune, Thai Nguyen City is the location of the current University of Information and Communication Technology (ICTU).
FIT is the first institution implementing the cooperation model between universities and research institutes; FIT staff consists of 23 people, in which, 10 scientists from Institute of Information Technology under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 13 lecturers from the Center for Informatics under Thai Nguyen University of Technology and Faculty of Mathematics under Thai Nguyen University of Education. Leaders during this initial stage included: Professor. Bach Hung Khang – Director of Institute of Information Technology – Dean, Assoc. Prof. Pham Viet Binh – Standing Vice Dean, Dr. Pham Tran Nhu – Secretary of the Party Committee of Institute of Information Technology – Vice Dean, Dr. Vu Manh Xuan – Vice Dean.
In the early stages of its establishment, the FIT Leadership Board focused on consolidating the organizational structure, including 02 functional divisions (General Division; Division of Training- Science and International Relations); 04 departments (Computer Science, Network and Information Systems, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering); 01 Group for Lab Practice. In the first year (2002), FIT enrolled 150 full-time undergraduate students; 60 full-time college students; about 250 students of top-up undergraduate program; nearly 100 second-degree students majoring in IT and 27 master students majoring in Computer Science.
In 2004, approved by MoET, FIT was assigned the additional task of training Electronics and Telecommunications at the undergraduate level (04 years) and vocational level (2 years).
In 2006, FIT established Department of Basic Science in charge of general subjects and established Department of Automation Technology to train Automation Control Technology. Also, in this year (November 15, 2006), Teacher Pham Viet Binh – Dean was honored to be the first person of FIT to be awarded the title of Meritorious Teacher by President Nguyen Minh Triet of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
In December 2007, TNU issued a decision to assign FIT to train undergraduate programs in Economic Information Systems, majoring in Economic Informatics in order to provide human resources timely for units, organizations, enterprises, banks… in the region and the whole country.
In the FIT development strategy for the period 2006-2010, FIT has paid special attention to investing in human resources, more than 100 turns of staff and lecturers were sent to study and improve their qualifications at home and abroad. In 2008, the total number of staff was 218 and the number of students was 6,330; FIT constantly strengthens facilities (office building C1, lecture hall C2, labs), revises training programs and innovates teaching methods to improve training quality. Along with the FIT achievements, the typical lecturer – Assoc. Dr. Phung Trung Nghia won the IT Award “Golden Globe” by the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.
SECOND STAGE (2011-2021)
In 2011, after 10 years of striving for construction and development, along with practical requirements for the ICT development, not only in Vietnam but all over the world and in line with the viewpoint of the Vietnamese Communist Party’s and the State on the ICT development in the new revolutionary period, the Prime Minister signed Decision No. 468/QD-TTg dated on March 30, 2011 to establish ICTU on the basis of upgrading FIT. Meritorious Teacher, Assoc. Prof. Pham Viet Binh holds the position of the university’s rector; 02 Vice Rectors were Dr. Vu Vinh Quang and Dr. Nguyen Van Tao.
After the decision was made, the ICTU committee and leaders focused on directing and perfecting the organizational structure and the appointment of cadres and staffing in accordance with the process and regulations; established 8 divisions, 5 faculties, 1 affiliated department and 5 centers; appointed 78 leaders at all levels; organized training programs for 9 undergraduate majors, 2 college majors, 3 top-up training majors with a scale of more than 7,000 students of all levels. With these achievements, in 2011, the ICTU was awarded the Third-class Labor Medal.
In 2012, with the university’s policy of developing and training ICT and putting IT application as a platforms for socio-economic fields; in addition to the deepening international integration, the rapid development of science and technology, the university opened more majors: Biomedical Engineering, Office Administration, Multimedia Communication, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology; initially promoted student-centered credit-based training in the teaching and learning process, creating flexibility for learners in registering subjects and study time.
In 2013, Teacher Pham Viet Binh – Rector was honored to be the first staff of the university to be recognized by the State Council for the Professor Title to meet the standards for the title of Associate Professor; TNU issued the Decision to appoint Dr. Vu Duc Thai to hold the position of Vice Rector of the university.
In 2014, ICTU opened more majors: Cyber Security, E-commerce, Communication Technology and Graphic Design. At the same time, the school was approved to train Doctoral major in Computer Science and Master in Control Engineering and Automation.
In 2015, Assoc. Prof. Pham Viet Binh retired from management work, Dr. Nguyen Van Tao was appointed to hold the position of Rector until the end of the 2011-2016 term. Thereafter, Dr. Nguyen Van Tao continued to be re-appointed to hold the position of Rector for the 2016-2021 term; 02 Vice Rectors were Dr. Vu Vinh Quang and Dr. Vu Duc Thai. The ICTU Council for the first term (2015-2020) was established and Dr. Truong Ha Hai held the position of Chairman.
During this period, “The ICTU’s development strategy to 2020 and vision to 2030” with the central goal that by 2020 ICTU would “become a prestigious university in training and scientific research and technology transfer throughout the country in the field of information and communication technology and related fields”, the university had invested heavily in facilities, teaching staff, enhanced innovation and improved training quality; continued to build a modern and friendly training environment; standardized the contingent of cadres and lecturers; carried out application-oriented training; interested in scientific research; seized opportunities through international cooperation to create sustainable values for the university. As a result, ICTU was awarded the Emulation Flag of Thai Nguyen Province (2015) and the university was recognized for meeting the Education Quality Standards (February, 2017). This was an important milestone affirming the efforts of the leadership team and all staff and employees, and at the same time affirming the position and brand of the university in the development process. In addition, there was an affirmation of international cooperation, training and staff development: The Central Committee of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association awarded the Certificate of Merit for “Excellent achievements in public affairs of Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association”; the university was assigned the task of training masters in telecommunications engineering (2017) and master in management information systems (2019); These two young staff, Assoc. Prof. Phung Trung Nghia and Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Van Huan were appointed as Associate Professor (2018).
In order to consolidate the organizational structure under the Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Higher Education (Law No. 34/2018/QH14), on October 22, 2020, the ICTU Council for the second term (2020-2025) has recognized according to Decision No. 54/QĐ-HĐĐH-ĐHTN of the TNU Council. Since then, Dr. Nguyen Van Tao has held the position of Chairman of the ICTU Council. On December 28, 2020, the Council of Thai Nguyen University issued Decision No. 63/QĐ-HĐĐH-ĐHTN on the recognition of Assoc. Prof. Phung Trung Nghia to hold the position of ICTU Rector for the term 2020-2025; 02 Vice Rectors have been Dr. Vu Duc Thai and Dr. Do Dinh Cuong.
Promoting the spirit of unity, creativity and dynamism of the leadership team and all staff and employees in the next stages, ICTU initially focused on consolidating the organizational structure, including 7 functional divisions, 06 specialized faculties and 03 centers. Total number of staff and employees are 355; total number of students are 6,000; 25 training disciplines/specialties, including 04 new training programs opened in 2021 (Artificial intelligence and big data; Automotive technology and Smart transportation; Intelligent Mechatronics and Robotics; Digital Economics). In addition, there are a number of key training programs and international joint programs: the International Twinning Program in Software Engineering with Kyungpook National University, South Korea; High-quality training program in IT; Key training program in Digital Marketing.
After 20 years of construction and development (2001-2021), ICTU has basically completed the mission of a higher education institution. The university was awarded the Certificate of Merit from the MoET “For outstanding achievements in the process of building and developing the unit, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary”, the Emulation Flag of Thai Nguyen province (2021), and the Emulation flag of Vietnam Education Union (2021). The university’s brand is evaluated and recognized by noble awards, evidenced by more than 30,000 bachelors, engineers, masters, and doctoral graduates from all regions of the country, contributing to the cause of building the country, enriching the homeland. Continuing to promote the good tradition of unity, creativity, innovation and achievements, all staff and employees of the university have entered a new stage of integration and development with the spirit of decisively winning!
- ICTU Prospectus 2023 (Click here)